When mountain biking, braking is crucial for a safe and enjoyable ride. If your levers are not set up correctly you may not be able to utilise all your braking power. In this article you will discover how to adjust brake levers on a mountain bike so you can take the most out of your brake.
Mountain bike brake levers come in different blade lengths.
4-finger levers are designed to work with cantilever brakes as they need a lot of leverage.
3-finger levers are commonly used on “V” brakes and mechanical disc brakes.
1or 2 -finger levers are usually used on hydraulic brakes as they are very powerful and require minimum pulling power.
How to adjust brake levers on a mountain bike – adjusting the side to side position.
First check if your levers sit correctly side to side.
- Sit on your saddle. If necessary, lean against a wall or get a friend to hold your bike.
- Put your hands centrally on the grips in the position that you would ride.
- If you have twist shifters, then two fingers will sit on the rotating part.
- Whatever fingers you use to brake, lift them up.
- Now rest them on the levers. All the fingers used should fit in the curve of the blade.
- If any of your fingers don’t sit in the curve but rest on the part of the blade near the body then the lever is too close to the grip and needs to be moved nearer to the stem so that all the fingers fit in the curve.
Moving a brake lever away from the grip
- If there are any accessories close to the brake levers, such as a bell, lights or reflectors, then move them a little bit closer to the stem.
- If you have a handlebar controlled seat post dropper or a suspension trigger, hold the shifter in one hand and with the other, loosen the clamp bolt.
- Move the trigger slightly towards the stem and whilst still holding it in position, tighten the clamp bolt.
- If you have gear trigger shifters, first hold the shifter in one hand and with the other, loosen the clamp bolt.
- Move the shifter slightly towards the stem without moving its angle and whilst still holding it in position, tighten the clamp bolt.
- Now hold the brake lever in one hand and undo the clamp bolt with the other.
- Slide the lever a little bit.
- If you have a gear shifter, push the lever against it until it stops.
- Retighten the bolt.
- Now recheck the position of the fingers on the lever, and if required repeat the process until you’re happy.
If your other lever needs adjusting in the same way then repeat the process on the other side.
Moving a brake lever closer to the grip
If any of your fingers don’t sit on the lever but hang off the end, then you will need to move the brake lever closer to the end of the bars
- Hold the brake lever in one hand and undo the clamp bolt with the other.
- Slide the lever closer to the grip.
- Retighten the bolt.
- Now recheck the position of the fingers on the lever, and if required repeat the process until you’re happy.
If your other lever needs adjusting in the same way then repeat the process on the other side.
How to adjust brake levers on a mountain bike – adjusting rotational position
Now it’s time to check the rotational position of your brake levers.
- Sit on your saddle. If necessary lean against a wall or get a friend to hold your bike.
- Put your hands centrally on the grips in the position that you would ride.
- If you have twist shifters, then two fingers will sit on the rotating part.
- Now rest your fingers on the brake lever. The wrist should stay in the same position.
Adjusting a brake lever that is too high
If you have to move your wrist down to reach the lever, then the lever is too high and needs to be lowered.
- If you have trigger shifters, loosen the clamp bolt just enough to be able to move the shifter and slide it down.
- Now, hold the brake lever in one hand and loosen the clamp bolt with the other.
- Move the lever down to where you think it should be.
- Tighten the brake lever clamp bolt.
- Grasp the gear shifter, move it up again until it touches the brake lever and tighten the shifter clamp bolt.
- Now recheck the position of the fingers on the lever, and if required repeat the process until you’re happy.
If your other lever needs adjusting in the same way then repeat the process on the other side.
Adjusting a brake lever that is too high
If you have to move your wrist up to reach the lever, then the lever is too low and needs to be raised.
- Hold the brake lever in one hand and loosen the clamp bolt with the other.
- Move the lever up to where you think it should be.
- Tighten the brake lever clamp bolt.
- Now recheck the position of the fingers on the lever, and if required repeat the process until you’re happy.
If your other lever needs adjusting in the same way then repeat the process on the other side.
Now it’s time to adjust your gear levers. You can find how to position them correctly in our article here.
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